This Was Television On December 14

1999: Sunnydale goes silent

By its fourth season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was beginning to command critical attention as something more than a genre show on a teen-oriented fifth network. The tenth episode that season, “Hush,” raised the stakes for its creative ambitions further. Written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, almost two-thirds of the episode lacks any spoken dialogue. An immediate fan favorite, “Hush” went on to become the only Buffy episode to receive an Emmy nomination in a non-technical category, for Outstanding Writing for a Drama. -A.D.